The National Treasury is set to manage a partnership between government and the private sector aimed at bringing state capture perpetrators to book, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday.
The president said the framework, which is currently being fine-tuned, is meant to aid and control co-operation between financial crime sleuths in the private sector and public litigators.
State agencies lack capacity and specialised skill to prosecute complex cases arising from the state capture inquiry, and the latest initiative could plug the skills gap.
Business Unity SA (Busa) has already offered assist the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in preparing urgent cases prosecuting those identified in the released reports. The help could include private prosecutors, Busa CEO Cas Coovadia said in January.
“We have gratefully acknowledged the offer of support from the private sector to assist in providing those skills, which we lack in government to enable investigation and prosecution of crime,” said Ramaphosa during his state of the nation address at the Cape Town city hall on Thursday.
After acting chief justice Raymond Zondo handed Ramaphosa part one of the state capture inquiry report in early January, Busa’s board met to discuss the findings and recommendations. The second part of the report was handed over to the presidency in early February.
Ramaphosa, after raising the intended partnership, hastened to add the necessity of structures to guard NPA independence.
Several businesses — among them prominent management consultancies, such as Bain & Co, and law firms — were themselves implicated in state capture testimony.
“To ensure that the prosecuting authority remains true to its constitutional obligation and mandate, and to ensure transparency we are developing a framework for private sector co-operation that will be managed through the National Treasury,” the president said.
Ramaphosa said Zondo’s two submissions to date — with a final section expected by the end of February — proved state capture occurred.
“Many individuals and companies that the commission has found were responsible for state capture must now be held accountable.”
Ramaphosa said he knew he must guarantee Zondo’s report was properly and carefully considered, then acted upon. He will share his action plan on tackling state capture, in light of Zondo’s total report, by the end of June.
Ramaphosa was confident the NPA would drive investigations to bring the criminals that infiltrated government and captured the state “swiftly” to justice.
“The ID [Investigating Directorate] in the NPA is now poised to deliver on its crucial mandate and a dedicated team has been established to pursue these cases. We will be appointing a new head of the ID following the departure of its head,” said Ramaphosa.
Advocate Hermione Cronje, who was expected to lead the unit for its five-year lifespan, resigned prematurely in December 2021. A new ID leader has yet to be announced, though some strategic NPA appointments were processed in January 2022.
When he announced the ID in March 2019, Ramaphosa promised it would tackle “allegations emerging from current and recent commissions of inquiry, and corruption-related crimes in general.” Three years later, the ID’s focus on corruption, fraud and organised crime has not yielded one high profile case closed.
The president said there were talks with the judiciary to establish a special court roll for state capture and corruption matters. His announcements on the partnership and court roll are the latest efforts to boost the government’s capacity to tackle crime.
Ramaphosa’s promises in his leadership campaign and early into his term as head of state that he would root out the rot have run increasingly hollow, with corrupt ANC leaders and miscreants in government showing no signs of slowing down.
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